Once upon a time, we had the quaint concept that the provisions of the UCMJ existed to preserve good order and discipline, NOT to unnecessarily endanger the lives of American troops for political ends. Once upon a time, there existed the common sense idea that a combat officer did what he had to do to protect the lives of this men, and that what some JAG officer sitting on his butt in his air-conditioned office, and the other associated REMF types, didn't officially know, wouldn't hurt them. The understanding was, that an officer did what he believed necessary to protect his troops and perform the mission, and that , should he be too obvious about that, and ran afoul of some politically motivated issues, he paid the price for it. Ever since Vietnam, the tendency is to go actively looking for what used to be overlooked as long as it was done discreetly. For some reason, I find that a bigger disgrace, than anything Col. West did.
Combat soldiers aren't cops, Mike; they are trained to break things and kill people; troops are for fighting (and winning) wars, not peacekeeping and nation building. The fact that a lot of Americans have forgotten that, does not make it any less true.
